As part of the Action Plan of the National Intellectual Property Strategy for 2023-2025, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) joined the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (Global PPH or GPPH) program on July 6, 2024.
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a patent examination cooperation program between two Patent Offices that allows the applicant to request accelerated examination to the second Office (OLE: Office of Later Examination) following a simple procedure, if a corresponding application has been found allowable/patentable by the first Office (OEE: Office of Earlier Examination).
Its goal is to expedite patent application processing through the sharing of examination results from a participating office that identifies patentable subject matter, including results obtained under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
The GPPH is a multilateral cooperation program among intellectual property offices, whose secretariat is carried out by the Japanese Patent Office (JPO). Currently, the BPTO has bilateral PPH agreements with 23 national or regional patent offices. By joining the GPPH, the number of partner offices will increase to 35.
The existing PPH rules, established by BPTO Ordinance No. 78/2022, will remain in force until a new ordinance is published. Examination results from new partner offices can only be used after the publication of such new ordinance.
The participation of BPTO in the GPPH will definitely streamline patent examination processes and increase Brazil’s participation in the Global Intellectual Property System.